Class Akuma Conspiracy
by Krazy Ky-Sta Hatter
Summary: There's a conspiracy afoot in Alya and Nino's class. Akuma seem to be attracted to them. So far everyone has been possessed. Everyone except Adrien and Marinette, that is. After Alix and Kim start an argument, the class start placing bets on when they will get turned. Alya is not happy about it. She has another theory in mind. And she is going to win that bet, one way or another.
1. Place Your Bets

_**Hey everyone!**_

 _ **Okay, so... I'm officially Ladybug trash. Like, I don't think I have ever fallen into a fandom quite this hard or fast. By day 2 I had already started a fanfic. I now have three. All of them are pretty short so far.**_

 _ **This fic is going to be about two or three chapters, and honestly, it kind of boarders on crack. I was a little surprised. Like, there isn't a drop of angst in this fic. Not one!**_

 _ **I love these dorks. All of them.**_

 _ **Enjoy!**_

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 **Place Your Bets**

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"Come on, it's only a matter of time," Kim said loudly.

"Oh yeah, and what makes you think that?" Alix challenged him, always the first to go up against her friend. "What if they're different?"

"Because they're not!" he exclaimed. The entire class was listening to their argument while they waited for their teacher to arrive. It was an argument that been growing day by day. "Everyone has negative emotions. Everyone gets angry, or upset, or scared. And anyone that feels that is in danger of being possessed by an Akuma. It's only a matter of time before they snap."

Everyone looked over at the two empty seats near the front of the class. Adrien and Marinette. Once again, they were late.

By now, everyone in the class had a good understanding of how Akumas worked. How you could be possessed by one and what happened after. They had all been possessed, after all. All except two of them. So far, Adrien and Marinette were the only two students in their class that hadn't been turned yet.

"It is highly likely," Max stated. "84.6 percent of this class has already been turned at some point. And what with Marinette's low confidence sometimes, and Adrien's father, it's surprising that they haven't already."

"It's going to happen," Nino agreed firmly. "It's the Class Akuma Conspiracy. We're being targeted, people!" There were groans from around the room, but much less than when he had first told the theory. As more and more people from their class were Akumatized, more and more of them started to agree with him.

"You and your conspiracy theories," Alya muttered. "There is nothing wrong with this class! You all read my blog, you know how it works. And for the record, my friend is not going to 'snap'."

There was a soft snort from Chloé. "Oh yeah, well, we'll see about that."

"What did you say?!" At the not so thinly veiled threat, Alya was on her feet in a flash and Nino had to hold her back. It was well known that Chloé was the cause of well over half of the class being turned into an Akuma.

"I hate to say it, Alya, but half the time Mari does look like she's about to snap," Mylène said softly. "And I'd hate to see what would happen if Adrien ever turned her down."

"Which he totally will," Chloé cut in.

Alya's fists clenched, and Nino gave her a hard yank down into her seat. He gave her a look as if to say ' _don't start anything_ '.

"Adrien will snap first, I think," Nathanaël piped up, his voice still quiet. He didn't look up from his notebook as he spoke. "Marinette is strong. And she bounces back quickly. But Adrien... we all heard how his father talked to him last week. If he goes through with that threat to home school him again, I don't think he'd handle it."

Alya was still fuming, she looked to Nino, waiting for him to defend his best friend, only to find him starting at the desk dejectedly. She shot him a glare he gave her a grim frown. "He's got a point," he said quietly. "He tries not to show it, but that stuff really gets to him, you know?"

"Whatever. I bet that Marinette will snap before my Adrien," Chloé huffed.

"Nah, Nath's right. I think that Adrien will," Kim said.

"I don't think that Mari will get possessed. But yeah, I think Adrien could," Alix put in.

"No, Chloé's right," Sabrina said. "Adrien will win."

Win? Wait, what? Since when did this become a competition?!

"I think they will both be fine," Rose said with a soft smile.

"I don't care," Juleka dead-panned.

"I don't know, Mari is strong, but she's so emotional about everything," Ivan said. His eyes went wide when he realised what he said. "I mean, not _emotional_ emotional. Like, she feels everything really strongly. She's really passionate about everything she does. That's never a good thing when something lets you down."

"Ha! I give her a week before she snaps! Adrien's not going to let her fawn over him forever!" Alya would have jumped at Chloé by now if Nino hadn't sat beside her and stayed holding her hand.

"Statically speaking, they both have very high chances of being possessed, and both likely within the next month." He picked up his tablet and began working away in a new table. "It will be hard to calculate, but if we devise it into five columns, it may work. Which means everyone makes two to five separate bets. We'll go two for Marinette, whether or not she will be possessed, and a time frame. Same for Adrien. And then the fifth is who will be first out of the two of them."

"Put me down for 5€ for Adrien being possessed first."

"Only five, Kim?" Chloé sneered. "Put me down for 50€ on Marinette going first." There was a sinister look on her face that they all knew meant she was going to _make_ it be that way.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up," Alya said, her hands raised in the air in disbelief. Rage was rolling off her, and for a moment the entire class flinched back in fear. "Are we seriously doing this right now? You're actually _betting_ on this?!"

Alix shrugged. "What's the harm? If they end up being possessed, it's not like this bet would change anything. Besides. We already have bets on if and when Mari and Adrien become a couple. You seemed pretty keen for that one."

"Being possessed by an Akuma is not something to be taken lightly! It's happened to all of you! You remember what it's like!"

For a moment they all just looked at her, then they turned back to Max.

"I'm going to put 5€ on both Marinette and Adrien not turning," Rose told him.

Alya growled in frustration, and Nino chuckled at her. "There's no fight it, Alya. Besides, Alix is right. Stopping this bet isn't going to stop them from becoming an Akuma. If it happens it happens. As long as we're there for them after, right? Besides, I know you have faith in Mari. You can put her down as a no turn."

"You want me to make a bet?" she seethed.

"I'm just saying there's no harm in it," he defended.

"Alright then, I'll make a bet!" she said, her voice rising with her anger. "You better make a new column, Max, because this is my bet. Neither of them are going to be possessed by Akuma. Because I bet that Adrien and Marinette are Chat Noir and Ladybug!"

She was met with silence. Everyone was staring at her in shock, confusion and disbelief. Suddenly Chloé let out a harsh laugh, the laugh was picked up by another and another, till soon the whole class was laughing.

"A-Alya, you sure you want to make that bet?" Nino asked, wiping away a tear. He was laughing that hard? "I mean, I know you have your wild theories, but where did you pull this one from?!"

She glowered at the entire class. "It's not that wild of a theory."

"Ha! Yeah right. If Marinette is Ladybug, then my daddy's bankrupt!" Chloé howled.

"Oh yeah, then how do you explain their absences? Don't admit you haven't noticed it. They're always disappearing, especially when there's an Akuma, or if Lady and Chat are there. And when they get back they have some really bad excuse."

"Please, Alya, they're not stupid reasons. They just have stupid luck," Mylène told her. "Like the time that I was possessed. I stuck them in those pod things. And the other time they were turned into knights, and Juleka turned them into ghosts, and Rose stuck them in her picture book, and-"

"And have you actually seen any of those actually happen?" she asked, giving them all a stern look. "Did you actually see them get trapped or turned, or did they just say it happened? Because when Jalil kidnapped me, Mari disappeared on me really early. She should have been trapped inside the museum, but later she said she was turned into a mummy. I know my best friend, and I know that she's hiding something from me. And from everyone. She gets this look sometimes that says that she wants to talk to someone about something, but when I ask, she says it's nothing. She tells me everything. But if you're trying to keep your double life a secret..." Everyone just continued to stare at her as if she were mad. "Come on, she gives me private interviews! She never does interviews for anyone else. And Marinette always seems to set them up!" Nothing. "They frigging _look_ like them, for crying out loud!"

"Um, Alya. It's a... ah, _good_ theory. But you're forgetting something," Nino told her. "Marinette is the clumsiest person we know. We save her from tripping to her death on a daily basis. You have entire backup plans for when she's around, just in case something happens. I just don't see how someone who can barely sit on a chair without falling off can jump across rooftops."

"Exactly, Marinette is _way_ too clumsy!" Chloé said. "Oh, Max, I forgot to say, I'm putting another 50€ on that loser being possessed by the end of the day."

Anger rose in her, and she pushed out from her desk. She didn't even care when her chair clattered loudly to the ground. She didn't care anymore. She was done with the lot of them.

"Fine then!" she hissed. "You place your stupid bets! But I stand by what I said." With that, she placed her hand under her chin, and flicked it outward in a rude gesture, before storming towards the door. She turned back to them and held her hands up, pulling the fingers at them. As she backed out the door, she felt herself bump into something... or, well, _someone_.

"Alya, why are you leaving the class while making rude gestures at everyone?" She heard their teacher say in exasperation.

...Oh crap.


	2. Angry Kitten

_**Hello! Time for Chapter 2, in which Adrien is an angry little kitty, and the class gets their Akuma.**_

 _ **...Okay, so I lied, there's a little bit of angst in this chapter. Just a little bit. Mostly angry Adrien and Alya... Don't mess with Mari. You'll end up with in danger with those two.**_

 _ **Hope you like it!**_

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 **Angry Kitten**

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When Adrien jogged through the halls to his class, he found he wasn't the only one running late. At the sound of footsteps behind her, the black haired girl slowed down and turned around.

"A-Adrien! Marinette puffed in surprise, falling into step with him.

"Running late too?" he asked with a soft smile.

Marinette returned the smile and nodded. "Yeah. Um, P-Papa asked me to help with some baking this morning." She yawned. "I lost track of time. Ugh, I'm _so_ tired!"

"Tell me about it. My father sprung a surprise photo shoot on me this morning."

They had slowed down to a walk now, and he took his time looking at her. She was resolutely looking away from him, her eyes staring at the doors as they passed by. There was a light dusting of colour across her cheeks, which made him smile, his stomach fluttering with butterflies at the sight.

He had no idea when that had started happening, when he had started to have feelings for her, but oddly he found he didn't mind.

She was finally starting to come out of her shell around him, and he loved it. He'd been making an effort over the last year now to make her more comfortable around him. And it was working. She'd even stopped stuttering like crazy or freezing up now. Who knows, maybe soon they would be good enough friends that he could ask her out for ice cream or something. Well, without Nino and Alya. Or would that seem too much like a date? Really, that didn't sound too bad to him.

There was just something about Marinette. She had these moments where her true passionate personality would shine through. He wanted to see more of that. He wanted her to be like that around him all the time. And, well, to be honest, when she was like that, she reminded him of Ladybug.

And it wasn't just her appearance, either. Though, that was already startlingly similar. But there was more to her than she let on. A passion, braver, a hidden grace. He noticed that it tended to show more when she thought no one was looking.

It was all this and more that put her at the top of his Ladybug list. Yes, he had one of those. After all, he couldn't help but notice every girl who looked or acted even a little bit like his Lady. And despite respecting her wishes, he still _really_ wanted to know who she was.

He had been a little surprised when he saw just how much Marinette both looked and acted like Ladybug. And then there was also the fact that – like now – she always showed up late to school after an Akuma attack with a strange excuse. Just like him. He wasn't certain if she really was Ladybug, but he'd come to realise that he really wouldn't mind if she was. He'd even caught himself _hoping_ she was even.

It would certainly make these feelings he was having a little less confusing.

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As they got closer to the classroom, they could hear a little commotion. Alya and Miss Busteir were standing in the doorway, Alya looking rather guilty.

"What's going on?" he asked.

At the sound of his voice, the teacher and Alya started and turned to face them. Miss Bustier sighed. "Nothing, apparently. And what about you two? Why are you late today?"

"I was helping Papa with a large order and lost track of time. I'm sorry, Miss," Marinette said, looking at the ground.

"Photo shoot," was all he said in the way of an explanation. Alya just looked at the two of them with an amused smirked. "W-what?"

"Oh, nothing," she said nonchalantly. "I'm just wondering if there's been an Akuma attack today. It would have sucked to miss it. I wanted to ask the two heroes if they're a couple yet."

The way that she was talking, Adrien almost had a heart attack. It almost sounded like she knew. Like she knew that the reason he was late was because he was Chat Noir, and had just been stopping an Akuma. It was true, but she couldn't know that. Could she? Oh god...

Marinette, however, just rolled her eyes. "Alya, I don't think one night is going to have changed the answer to that question."

"Alright, enough, Alya. You three take your seats please," Miss Bustier said. She was so used to this, that she didn't even sound exasperated or disappointed. She really was a cool teacher.

As they did as they were told, Adrien became aware that everyone was staring at him oddly. But not just him, they were looking at Marinette too. They seemed kind of nervous, and when they noticed he'd caught them looking, they would look away. He wasn't sure what was going on, but there _was_ something. It was likely that they had been talking about the two of them. But what would make them react that way?

Obviously Marinette noticed too, because when the teacher started the class, he heard her whispering to Alya.

"What's going on? Why is everyone staring at me?"

"It's nothing," Alya assured her, sounding slightly peeved. "Just ignore them, Mari. Oh, and Cholé's on the warpath, so ignore her the most."

Marinette giggled. "I always do."

Her reply made him hide a smile. He and Chloé had once been... well, not _good_ friends, but something similar. But over the last year she had gotten worse. Her bullying became something he wasn't able to handle. He was constantly pushing her away. And although he was never mean to her, he could no longer consider her a friend, let alone a nice person anymore.

"No, really," Alya went on. "No matter what she says or does, ignore her. You can hit her if you want. Just don't listen to anything she says."

"O-kay...?"

He could tell that she was confused and wanted to know more, but Alya refused to say anything else. By the looks Nino was sneaking at him, he knew what was going on too.

A smirk appeared on his face. It was time to do some digging. And when it came to Nino... This was going to be easy.

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 **.oOo.**

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 _Nothing!_

Two and a half hours! He had been nagging Nino for information for two and a half hours now, and yet sill he remained tight lipped.

Nino!

The guy who couldn't keep a secret to save his life! The guy who had told Kim about his surprise birthday party not an hour after it was planned. The guy who had told half the school about one of Alya's special surprise posts before she even had the chance to post it. _That guy_ , and yet, not a thing!

Something was seriously up. And Nino was trying hard not to let on. He was flashing panicked glances back up at Alya. It was a good thing that he hadn't been relying on just Nino to find out. He'd been paying close attention to the rest of the class. They were all acting weirdly. Every single one of them!

He had actually been paying more attention to his classmates than he had to the actual lessons, for once. He didn't think that anyone else was paying much attention either, much to their maths and science teacher's annoyance.

They had spent majority of the day looking at him and Marinette and muttering to each other. He'd noticed that as the day went on, they paid less attention to him, and had been focusing on Marinette. They seemed to be getting more and more worried as she looked progressively sadder and dejected throughout the day. He'd also noticed Chloé sending her rather sadistic smiles, and her phone going off frequently.

Ms Mendeleiev had certainly noticed the way everyone was acting too. At the very least, she knew that no one was really paying attention to the lesson. And for once she didn't seem to be able to control it. Usually if it was just one person, she would snap them out in an instant and send them to the principal. But this was the entire classroom. She had snapped at them many times, but to no avail. She was starting to look a little red in the face now...

And still, everyone chose to ignore her and watch Marinette. For some reason this really bugged him. Yeah, okay, so he was watching her too. But he was genuinely concerned. He wanted to get rid of that small sad look that was constantly on her face right now. He wanted to hold her and tell her it didn't matter. But everyone else – with the exception of Alya – looked like they were waiting for something to happen.

There was a faint buzz as her phone went off again, and he turned around to look again.

"Just ignore it," Alya begged her. "Seriously, girl, just turn it off."

It was too late. Marinette had already opened the message before her best friend had even opened her mouth. A small gasp escaped her lips, and he watched in horror as tears welled in her eyes. His gut clenched. No one was allowed to make his Princess look like that. No one!

He heard Chloé snigger, a snarl formed on his lips and his fist clenched, nails digging into his palm. What the hell was she saying to her?! Actually, it didn't matter. He wasn't going to stand for this. He wasn't going to stand for anyone hurting the girl he lov- whoa, what?

During his momentary confusion, Alya had bet him to the punch, snatching the phone from Marinette's hand. Her eyes flicked over the text for a moment, then her jaw clenched and a look of rage like he'd never seen formed on her face. She flicked her finger across the screen, making the messages fly up to previous ones. She took it all in, looking more and more furious. She was so angry he was starting to wonder if someone could be possessed by an Akuma twice.

"I'm going to kill her!" she seethed, standing up. The clattering of her chair rolling back alerted everyone to her movements, and Ms Mendeleiev scowled at her.

"Alya, sit down!" she growled.

"You think this shit is funny, you snotty cow?!" Alya shouted, ignoring the teacher.

"Alya, please, it's not worth it!" Marinette begged, attempting to grab her phone back. Just as she reached it, Alya yanked it away.

"Oh, this is so worth it. No one speaks to my best friend this way. No one should speak to _anyone_ this way! I am going to kick her ass so hard, she-"

"Alya!" the teacher's growl was so low it shocked her a moment.

That moment was all Marinette needed to grab her phone. But Alya noticed at the last second, and as she tried to grab it back, it went flying... Right towards him.

He caught it with a swift movement, preventing it from hitting the ground. He was about to hand it back to her when something caught his eye. He was trying not to pay attention to it, honest. He was already angry enough with Chloé for whatever it was without actually knowing. But on the screen was a picture of him.

Curiously, he looked at the picture. It was a picture of him and Chloé at one of his father's events. They were dressed nicely and were posing together. He had an arm around her, and a pleasant smile on his face that he always pulled for photos. She, however, was wrapped around him, her lips pressing into his cheek. He remembered this. She'd gotten Sabrina to take it on her phone, and had kissed him at the last moment. Why would she send this to Marinette?

He found out when he scrolled down slightly, finding a torrent of taunting messages saying how Adrien 'belonged' to her and would never like Marinette. As he read the messages, he felt something rise in his chest... something hopeful... Marinette liked him?! Of course, there were a few other feelings boiling under the surface that heavily outweighed that hope. Anger. Oh, most definitely anger, and the need to protect and defend her... His body entire body went cold when he saw the last message.

' _Why don't you just kill yourself. It's not like anybody will care_.'

"What the fuck, Chloé?!" The words were out of his mouth before he even realised it. He was on his feet now too, the entire class looking at him in shock. He was too furious to care that they had just heard 'quiet, mild-mannered' Adrien Agreste swear at one of his oldest friends.

"Mr Agreste, how dare you use that language in my class. Sit down this instant. You too, Alya, or I will send you both to the principal."

He turned to the teacher, his eyes hard. "Sorry, Ms Mendeleiev, but if anyone should go to the principal, it's Chloé." He turned back to the blonde girl, who was staring at her nails in an irritated attempt to ignore them. "I knew you could be mean, Chloé. I even knew that sometimes you could be cruel. And I've tried to ignore it, I've tried to right it, or stop you, but this... This is disgusting!" At his harsh words, her head snapped to him, and the entire class gasped in shock. "Is this _really_ how you treat people?!" he hissed, his voice low. Marinette was staring at him with large, watery eyes. She appeared to be holding her breath... everyone was. They had never heard him raise his voice before, let alone rage at someone like he was. "What the hell makes you think you have any right to say stuff like this to anyone!"

"Mr Agreste, sit down!"

"What the hell have you got against Marinette? What has she ever done to you that you hate her this much?!"

"That's it, go to the principals office!"

"No!" he retorted, too lost in his rage to comprehend that he had just defied his teacher. "I'm not letting her get away with telling someone to damn well _kill herself!_ What the hell is wrong with you?!"

While the class made horrified sounds of shock, Chloé scoffed as if all of this was no big deal. "Please, Adrien, you're being so dramatic. I'm just trying to push her over the edge."

" _Push her over the edge?!_ " he growled. "You want to push her over the edge and make her die!"

"No, dummy, just get her possessed. I have 150€ total riding on her becoming an Akuma by the end of the day." She said it so flippantly that if Nino wasn't already holding him back by the jacket, he may have lunged at her. But instead he froze, his entire form rigid.

"What?!" His voice was low and flat. Dangerous. He noticed that at his voice, many people in the class shrunk back.

"Chloé, shut up!" someone hissed.

"Y-you made bets?" came Marinette's quiet, trembling voice. Though she mostly sounded upset, he could hear a hit of anger behind it. "You... you made bets about when I'd get possessed?"

"Well, duh," Chloé said, rolling her eyes. "Adrien too. But unlike _some_ people, I didn't bet he'd turn at all. He's just too good for that."

"Shut up, Chloé!" someone else shouted at her, their voice panicked. He couldn't tell who had said it. He didn't care. His blood was pounding loudly in his ears, and he was a few seconds from transforming, kidnapping Chloé, and leaving her at the top of the Eiffel tower until someone got her down again.

He rounded on the class. "You all placed bets? Do you all think this is funny?! Do you think that it's a game?! You've all been possessed before. How the hell did that make you feel, huh? And now you're-"

"Dude," Nino pleaded. "Calm down. At this rate you _will_ be possessed."

"He's right," Marinette said quietly. "Don't get Akumatized over this. I'm not worth it."

"Not- Of course you are! That was never part of the question. But besides that, it's completely wrong. And no one is allowed to make you cry!"

"Enough!" a thunderous cry came from the front of the class, they all turned to see their teacher standing at her desk, looking livid.

Only... she wasn't exactly their teacher anymore. It was clear that she had been Akumatized. Her skin was now a light shade of purple and her hair was now shock white, standing up like Einstein's... or a Super Saiyan. She still had her white lab coat and glasses on, but her outfit was now a winey-purple coloured skin-tight body suit with a flaring high collar. The soles of her shoes and belt were now an electric green. So were her eyes, and a large bio hazard sign on her stomach. A pink butterfly shape was still visible around her eyes.

"I am Bio Hazard! And little children are to sit down and do as they are told!" She clapped her hands together, and something bright green formed between them. She hurled the substance at the windows and within seconds, it solidified. "Now, there is no way out. The entire class has earned detention. So you will sit back and be good bait while we wait for our 'favourite' heroes."

Adrien's eyes darted about in panic. He could already see Alya's fingers flying across her phone, probably calling for help on the Ladyblog. But he was more concerned about the exists.

She was right, there was no way out. They were sealed in.

Fuck.

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* * *

 _ **Ta da!**_

 _ **Yeah, I don't know about you, but Ms Mendeleiev seems like the kind of teacher who would crack pretty easily. I've actually drawn up a rough design of her on my tumblr, if you want to check it out (I have a link on my profile page).**_

 _ **Also, I figured that since this is probably about 6 months from where we are in the show, Mari and Adrien have had a bit of development with their relationship. And for Adrien, it's a little more development than he originally thought.**_

 _ **And I kind of have this headcanon that Nino can't keep a secret for shit. It is only the threat of Alya that has kept him telling Adrien about Mari's crush. But now it looks like the Chats out of the bag on that one now. You can breathe, Nino.**_

 _ **See you for the next chapter!**_


	3. 100 Done

_**Hi! So, I was supposed to finish this one yesterday. Instead I had a killer of a headache and slept most of the day.**_

 _ **Anyway, this one is finally done! It's a bit more crack-sih, like the first chapter. I have 6 more ML fics planned, so I'm going to start on them now.**_

 _ **Enjoy!**_

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 **100% Done**

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He stared about the class in panic. There was no way out. He was trapped.

And there was no way in.

If Ladybug did get Alya's message, there was no way for her to get inside. Well, actually there was. He had no doubt that as soon as she got here, Bio Hazard would let her in, or go out to meet her. This was a trap, after all. And that would be his chance to get out.

Thankfully, as long as he behaved, he should be able to sneak out. And he had to behave, or else he would be trapped down. Several students, including Chloé, Nino, and Kim had been stuck to their seats. After Nino had been stuck down simply for bouncing nervously in his seat, everyone had been sitting properly and patiently.

Bio Hazard had spent most of the time glaring at them all, occasionally showing them certain chemical reactions that would have been cool any other time, but were practically horrifying with her threats hanging over them. At one point she had allowed (demanded) Alya to take out her phone and post to the Ladyblog. Oh yeah, this was so supposed to be a trap... if the 'bait' thing hadn't already clued him in. At least Ladybug would know. There was no doubt that Alya would have warned her in the last message. And surely by now someone would have issued a Code Akuma and evacuated the school.

He could still faintly hear the sound of cellphones going off around the class. Even when he wasn't transformed, his hearing was still pretty good. It was easiest to hear Alya and Marinette's phones go off behind him. He chanced a glance back to see Alya looking at her friend determinedly, and Marinette looking panicked and annoyed. Seeing him looking at them questioningly, Alya went back to her phone.

A few seconds later, he received a text. His eyes flicked up to Bio Hazard to make sure she wasn't looking before pulling the phone out of his pocket and glancing at the message. It was from Alya.

' _Mari thinks the Akuma is in her coat,_ ' it said.

He glanced at the evilized teacher again, studying her. She was right. The coat was the only thing that hadn't changed drastically. Even her glasses were slightly different, having gone from black to purple, with sharper edges and a streak of luminescent green along the edge of the arms. The only change to the coat was that it maybe now was slightly longer. And he knew their teacher wore it around a lot, even after work hours hand finished. He looked back at Alya and gave a slight nod.

Alya once again went back to her phone. Then, a moment later he heard a phone vibrate across the room. His head snapped over to Chloé. Seeing as her arms were pinned down by whatever it was Bio Hazard had used to stick her to the chair, Sabrina stealthily grabbed the phone from her friend's pocket and showed it to her. He quirked and eyebrow, wondering what Alya could be texting Chloé for, when suddenly the blonde girl broke the silence that had fallen over the room.

"Hey, you floating fashion disaster!" she shouted at Bio Hazard. The Akumatized teacher snapped her head towards the interruption. "I demand that you release me right now!" Bio Hazard hovered over to where Chloé was, a scowl on her face. "Do you have any idea who I am?! I am Chloé Bourgeois, daughter of Mayor Andre Bourgeois!"

As the girl continued to rant on, Alya very quietly slipped out of her chair. Marinette went to grab at her, but just missed. Her hands clenched into fists, the poor girl looking like she was terrified for her friend, at the same time as wanting to throttle her. Alya snuck out from behind the desk and made her way to the front of the class, being careful not to be seen. Then, once she was behind Bio Hazard, she started creeping forward.

Adrien's eyes widened when he realised what was happening. Alya had asked Chloé to create a distraction. She was trying to get the coat. Other students had noticed what she was trying to do, and they were joining in trying to keep Bio Hazard's attention to that side of the class. As a result, half of them were now stuck down to their chairs as well. But they kept yelling, kept making distractions. When it seemed like Bio Hazard was going to throw something a little more dangerous at someone, someone else would grab her attention.

Slowly, Alya reached out to the coat. She was close enough. She just had to grab the hem and rip it. If she could do that, then at least the Akuma would be freed. Her hand grazed the fabric, clutching onto it. But at that moment, Bio Hazard felt the movement and whipped around, grabbing Alya by the throat and holding her up in one fluid motion.

"Alya!" Marinette shrieked.

"What do you think you are doing out of your seat?" Bio Hazard growled menacingly. Alya tried to say something, but could barely do more than attempt to gasp in more air. Bio Hazard tightened her grip on her throat when she didn't answer. "Alright, class, who can tell me what effect hydrochloric acid has upon the human body? No? No one? How about a demonstration, then?"

Hydrochloric acid... that was a highly dangerous chemical. It was an instant contact poison, and would even start corroding the bone...

Fuck.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!

He had to do something. He had to do something now!

He stood, not knowing what he was going to do. Only knowing that he had to do something – _anything_ to protect his friend. He was about to charge towards them when suddenly a red blur speed past him. He watched in surprise as a yo-yo wrapped around Alya and pulled her back away from the Akuma. A familiar red clad figure stepped in between her and Bio Hazard, a furious glare on her face.

There was a collective gasp from the class, especially from those in the back, some crying out in shock.

"Don't you _dare_ touch her!" Ladybug hissed.

Adrien blinked, looking at the room to see where she had come from. But everything was still sealed, there was no way she could have gotten in. That was when he noticed that someone behind him was no longer there. Marinette...

...Holy shit! He - he was right. Marinette was...

"Ladybug," Bio Hazard snarled.

"Alya, are you alright?" Ladybug asked without looking behind her, keeping her eyes locked on the villain.

"Y-yeah," Alya stuttered, her voice quiet and raspy.

"Good." Suddenly she turned around to face her, an exasperation that he was well used to clear on her face. "Then what the hell were you thinking?! I told you not to do anything! I _told_ you to stay in your seat and leave it to me and Chat, but _noo!_ You just had to go in and put yourself in danger, _again!_ Honestly, Alya! All we had to do was wait for Chat Noir and I could have done something without having to transform in front of the _entire class!_ "

"Um..." Alya said, still staring at her friend with wide eyes.

He knew Ladybug well enough to know that she was _actually_ angry. She was furious with her friend. But she was terrified as well. She was so terrified that Alya was going to be hurt. She was so scared that she had just exposed herself to the class _and_ possibly to Hawkmoth. And that only made her angrier. She didn't want anyone to know who she was.

She was so angry that she had stopped paying attention to Bio Hazard, and the Akuma was silently letting some sort of chemical form in her hands, ready to throw at her. Instinct kicking in, he raced at her, tackling Ladybug to the ground and forcing them into a roll. He landed on top on her and his eyes grew wide as he watched two balls of chemicals hit the desk in the path of where she had been, setting it on fire.

"Adrien!" she squeaked. Quickly, he got off her and gave her a hand up. Seeing that Bio Hazard was starting to create more chemicals, she took a protective step in front of him. "Quick, get out of here," she said to him.

He snorted. "Not likely." With a smirk, he transformed. There were more gasps from around the class, but she was so focused on Bio Hazard she didn't even turn to look at him.

"Adrien, get back to your seat where it's safe! I can take care of myself."

"I have no doubt that you can, but I insist, _My Lady_." At the sound of his nickname for her, she whipped around, her eyes wide. When she saw him her mouth popped open, a soft gasp escaping her. He shot her one of his wide grins before nodding back to Bio Hazard. "So, what are we going to do with this toxic waste?" She didn't say anything, just continuing to stare at him in shock. He rolled his eyes. "You know, Princess, now might be a good time for a bit of luck. You know, before she disintegrates us. Or worse, starts giving us maths problems."

The joke seemed to snap her out of her stupor enough. A small grin touched her lips and she turned back to their teacher with a nod and a small 'mm'.

"Ahh!" Alya squealed from behind them. "Ladynoir is totally canon now!"

"Alya!" she cried in annoyance.

"Would you all be quite!" Bio Hazard snapped. "Everyone back to your seats! And as for you two. I'm confiscating your Miraculouses."

"Yeah, good luck with that," Chat said. "And coming from me, that doesn't really mean much."

"Yeah, he's all kinds of bad luck," she quipped, shooting him a wink. "Lucky Charm!" Without warning, she threw her yo-yo up in the air. It was barely a second after she'd clipped her weapon back on her belt that the charm fell into her hands. "A... floatie ring?"

"You know, one day I'm just going to take you to a beach," Chat joked, thinking of all the times Lucky Charm had given her something water related.

"Maybe another day, Kitty," she said, glancing about the room, looking for something she could do with the Charm. He could tell just by looking at her the moment she had gotten the idea. He looked at her, waiting to know what she needed. "Over there," she told him, directing him to the spot with her eyes. "I'm going to need you to get her over there in a moment."

"You got it!" he told her, leaping away.

Quickly, she tied her yo-yo to the floatie and threw it out at Bio Hazard. The woman swatted it away with a sneer and it sailed up, over the support beam on the roof, and back down to land at her feet. She made a show of her move failing, when really it did exactly what she wanted.

"Is that really all you have?" Bio Hazard goaded. "Hawkmoth made you sound so talented, but you're just pathetic. You need a better teacher!"

Marinette gave Adrien a small signal and he began to laugh. "What? Like you?" he teased. "I don't know. You aren't really a good teacher. It's a good thing I find physics easy, otherwise I'd be screwed!"

Bio Hazard growled, making new chemicals form in her hands and started towards him. She hovered over the floatie on her way past, and Marinette gave a harsh yank on her yo-yo. The floatie hooked onto Bio Hazard's feet, sliding all the way up to her waist and trapping here there.

"Chat, now!"

Nodding, Chat dashed forward, and grabbing the tail of the coat he raked his claws down it. It shredded to pieces in his hands and a black and purple butterfly fluttered from it. Quickly, she de-tangled her yo-yo and threw it out to catch the Akuma. Once it was cleansed, she let it go with her customary goodbye.

"Miraculous Ladybug!" she called, throwing the floatie up into the air. Her healing light began to spread through the room, fixing the burning desk and removing the chemicals that had trapped the students and sealed the doors. Black bubbled around Bio Hazard and she turned back into their teacher, looking horribly disorientated. Automatically, they held out their hands for a fist bump.

"Mission accomplished," he said with a wink. Marinette smiled at him, a faint blush covering her cheeks and he blinked in surprise. He'd never seen her react like that before – at least, not as Ladybug.

Suddenly, whooping and cheering began to come from their classmates. Their smiles fell as they remembered what they had just done, and realised what was probably coming next. Their entire class had seen them transform. They knew who they were, and they were probably going to have a lot of questions... especially Alya.

Adrien placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. And just like always, one look at the other spoke so much more than words ever could. They both took a deep breath, and let their transformations drop. It was the first time they had seen the other do it, and it left them a little breathless. But even without the masks, they still had that same reassuring smile.

Though a little exhausted, their Kwami landed on their shoulder, giving the other a smile and small wave. Tikki nuzzled her head into Marinette's cheek in support and affection, before flying back into the purse where a cookie awaited her. Plagg just grudgingly went into Adrien's pocket with a grumbled 'You owe me so much cheese...' That made Marinette smile and Adrien just shrugged and shook his head. She knew that it meant 'that's Plagg for you'.

Finally, they turned to face the rest of the class. They were quiet now, still looking slightly surprised. May of them were looking happy, or impressed, or confused... or in Chloé's case, annoyed.

Alya straightened up, taking a step forward, and they prepared for the barrage of questions and betrayed looks. Instead, she walked over to Chloé and held out her hand.

"I believe that _you_ owe me 150€."

Chloé grumbled for a bit, then she dug into her bag and handed over a small pile of notes to Alya with a sour expression. Alya said nothing, just pocketing the money before turning back smugly to Sabrina with her hand out. The girl just sighed before doing the same as her friend.

They watched in bewilderment as their classmates began hunting in their bags or pockets for cash. Nino was already holding his out, a huge grin on his face. Max had gotten out his tablet and started stating amounts that everyone owed.

"Wh-what's happening right now?" Marinette said, completely baffled.

Alya turned to her gleefully. "I knew it! I knew it!" she cried, still collecting up money. "See, while these idiots were betting on you two getting possessed, I've suspected you two of being Ladybug and Chat Noir for months. So when they started betting, I got angry and bet that you wouldn't be possessed because you're the heroes of Paris. And I was right! Ha!"

Adrien opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again when he found himself at a loss of what to say. He did this several times as they watched Alya smugly skip around the room, collecting her prize. Finally, he grabbed Marinette by the hand and started dragging her to the door.

"We need to talk," he said flatly.

Nino watched them leave with an amused grin on his face. He turned to the rest of the class.

"So, who was it that bet they'd get together round about now?"

* * *

 **.oOo.**

* * *

Adrien and Marinette didn't return to class that day. At first they had found an empty class to talk in, but when the bell rang and a new class filed in, they had decided to leave. Since he didn't think anyone would bother them, he had texted Gorilla and they had gone back to his place.

They had stayed there for hours talking away and messing around. In the freedom of his room, their Kwami were free to zoom about and talk with them too. It had taken a while to warm up to the idea of each other being their crime fighting friend, but slowly the conversation moved on from the serious, awkward things into their usual joking and banter they shared as their alter egos. Only, now when Adrien flirted, she flirted back, which though he found surprising at first, he grew to enjoy quite quickly. At one point, they had even started doing challenges, like scaling his rock wall out of costume and stuff like that.

Nino and Alya didn't stop texting them the entire time. They mostly ignored their beeping phones as their friends sent them a bunch of questions. Alya had said that she understood that they were talking themselves at the moment, but that she expected to have a serious conversation with Marinette later that night. As well as sending them a list of all the reasons she had suspected them of being the heroes. And they had been assured by the two of them that even though they were upset they hadn't been told, they completely understood why.

What really grabbed their attention, though, was when they received a total of 17 texts from both Nino and Alya asking if they were going out yet, along with comments of 'You both like each other, just hurry up and do it!' and 'It's painful to watch you two, so just go out already!' And as embarrassing as it was, they both agreed that their friends were right.

It had taken a fair amount of stumbling, and a bit of blushing and fumbling, but he had managed to awkwardly ask her out. She had squeaked back a yes so quickly he'd been a little stunned and it had taken a good minute for him to actually realise she'd actually said yes. He'd acted like an excited idiot after that, and it hadn't taken long for Marinette to move past her timidness and start teasing him again. He'd teased her back, and soon they were had moved so close together that all he'd had to do would be to lean forward and close the small gap between them. He was so close to pressing his lips to hers when a loud beep came from his phone and he let out a groan of annoyance.

The text had said 'So, have you asked her out yet?' He'd almost thrown his phone across the room, but instead he'd sent back 'Yes already! OMG dude!' hoping that he'd stop texting.

.

It was still a few more hours after that before Marinette sighed and admitted that she should go home. Adrien didn't want to be apart from her yet, and he really didn't want to be alone in his big empty house. That was why they were now walking down the street to Marinette's house, their hands laced together and wide grins on their faces.

"Mama, Papa! I'm home!" she called as she opened the door to the bakery. The door swung closed behind them and they stopped short when they saw Nino and her father standing at the counter. Nino was in the action of handing Tom a large bundle of cash. Far too much for what he would normally carry on him. They both looked guilty, like a child sneaking cookies.

"Ah… what's going on?" she asked cautiously.

Tom just stared at her in surprise a moment before a sheepish grin spread across his face, looking between her and Adrien. "Ah… Congratulations?"

"Papa, why are-"

"What's going on in here?" Sabine said, emerging from the back, confused about the noise and awkward silences. She stopped when she saw the bundle of money Tom was clutching, then she looked at Marinette and Adrien and their joint hands. Back to the money. To Marinette and Adrien. Back to the money. A delighted grin grew on her face. "You won the bet!" She looked back at her daughter. "Congratulations, honey!"

Marinette's mouth fell open when she realised what was going on. They had made a bet on when she and Adrien would get together. Her _parents_ had bet on when she would get together with Adrien! Her face suddenly went red from embarrassment and anger. A frustrated growl escaped her lips and her grip on Adrien's hand tightened.

"Follow!" she commanded.

And with that, she stalked off to her room, dragging her boyfriend behind her. She was so done with everyone today. Just so fucking done.


End file.
